Where were you tonight, 16 years ago

[KenTankerous]

I was glued to the tube in my local pub, getting my heart ripped out right about now...


You?

[mr. synellinden]

In the Spectrum. 15 rows off the court, even with the foul line from which IT was shot.

The memory is vivid but it still seems like a dream. What a moment ... obviously different for some.


"Where Were You?"

Read this. http://vault.sportsillustrated.cnn.c...4691/index.htm.

To this day it's still the single best piece of sportswriting I've read. Of course, there is a personal bias ...

[buddy]

I was sitting in the end zone at the end where Grant Hill was when he made the pass. That night I went from the depths of despair to the ecstasy of victory in a very short period of time. Stayed to watch both nets cut down. Went home and watched it all over on tape.

[EarlJam]

Ramada Inn, Burlington, North Carolina.

Didn't expect much of a game. I was wrong.

Laettner hits the shot, EarlJam jumps into the arms of an old man and kisses him in the face.

I love Duke.

-Mr. EarlJam

[billybreen]

I was a young non-Duke fan (actually, non-basketball fan) spending the night at my friend's (rabid Duke fan) place. I forced him to watch Bill and Ted's Bogus Journey instead of the game. That's right, the sequel. We turned the game on 30 seconds after the shot.

We both eventually went to Duke, but he never forgave me.

[UncleBill]

I was in Mike Mangum's house in New Bern, NC, we were both 1stLts in the Marines, and both had been dumped recently, me by my slimy girlfriend, he by his slimy wife. I had made a cassette tape of "Women Haters Club" songs for the two of us and we were commiserating and watching the game. He is a Notre Dame grad. As Grant threw the pass I jump out of the couch, and as the shot went up I fell to my knees, skinning one on the carpet. I don't recall what I was doing as the shot went in as it was a blur by then, but much whooping and hollering was pretty much guaranteed.

[freedevil]

Screaming, while kneeling on the floor two feet in front of the TV. Like two feet away.

[Indoor66]

Read this. http://vault.sportsillustrated.cnn.c...4691/index.htm.

To this day it's still the single best piece of sportswriting I've read. Of course, there is a personal bias ...

Thanks for the link. I hadn't seen that in many years.

[captmojo]

A friend was having a party that was set up many weeks before. I was alone watching the game on TV. After Woods' shot went through, I was on the phone with my son, so we could console each other if needed. The consoling words were never needed or used. All we did was speak positive about what were the possibilities that would be available.

[jipops]

In a room filled with anti-Duke sentiment - I was the only one backing my Devils. Ofcourse the place fell silent once one of the greatest moments in college basketball history occurred - with me standing there smiling. Either I walked on air the rest of the night, or I drank just the right amount of beer.

[DukeDevilDeb]

I was watching my best friend walk around her livingroom, hanging her head and, with tears in her voice, saying "This is the end of Christian's college career." She repeated and repeated it. We were all devastated.

Then... the pass... the dribble.... the turn... the shot! Antonio Lang lying on the floor! Thomas Hill unable to reign in his emotions (one of the most beautiful scenes by a Duke player EVER!). Coach K jumping on the sideline, then immediately going over to the Kentucky bench. Christian with his two arms in the air, pumping and running... and Grant chasing after him, wanting to jump onto him to celebrate...

And while we are screaming and high fiving and hugging and jumping higher than I think I have ever jumped in my life, my friend's stepson saying, "Now what happened?"

The only Duke basketball moment that rivals the shot in my mind and my heart was the 12 seconds of defense we played against UNLV in 1991. Both are treasures, and we as Duke fans should be so proud of a program that has done this multiple times (UConn Laettner's sophomore year, Capel's half court miracle... Hurley's threes against Indiana in 1992 that sent us to play the Fab Five...)

Those of you who have been down on Duke ought to go into the archives and look all of these up... and realize that over the last two years when the outcomes haven't been quite what we wanted, we had (in total) 1 junior/senior starter (Markie), 1 sophomore/junior point guard (Greg), an unhappy big man (Josh), and a bunch of freshmen and sophomores. Give this team time to grow up, and I believe they will do it again.

Next play. Duke: National Champions 2009!

[weezie]

Disneyworld with the kids. Force-marching them across Mickey's Lagoon or what ever the he-l-l it was called to Goofy's Pontoon Ride to get back in time for the game in the room. Then, after it was over, crying, literally sobbing with my oldest and heading for the nearest drinking establishment to teach the young'uns how it's done.
And to this day, they haven't let me down.

[miramar]

I was at home, but I don't remember ever being that worked up over a game.

I don't matter much, but I am glad that JJ was also watching, because that is when he decided he would to to Duke.

[KenTankerous]

Coach K jumping on the sideline, then immediately going over to the Kentucky bench.

Classiest move never to be recognized in the history of college sports.

[BobbyFan]

Watched the game in the living room of my parents' house. When the shot went in, I raced all over the house a few times, yelling at the top of my lungs. My mom then yelled at me for going crazy and as punishment didn't let me call up my friends.

I was too young to truly appreciate it at the time, but having watched the game multiple times since, it was, as everyone here knows, the perfect game. The passing was unbelievable, the 2nd half was the greatest segment of basketball I have ever seen, and the endings of both regulation and OT were unreal.

Thanks for the thread. It will never get old.

[houstondukie]

I was watching my best friend walk around her livingroom, hanging her head and, with tears in her voice, saying "This is the end of Christian's college career." She repeated and repeated it. We were all devastated.

Then... the pass... the dribble.... the turn... the shot! Antonio Lang lying on the floor! Thomas Hill unable to reign in his emotions (one of the most beautiful scenes by a Duke player EVER!). Coach K jumping on the sideline, then immediately going over to the Kentucky bench. Christian with his two arms in the air, pumping and running... and Grant chasing after him, wanting to jump onto him to celebrate...

And while we are screaming and high fiving and hugging and jumping higher than I think I have ever jumped in my life, my friend's stepson saying, "Now what happened?"

The only Duke basketball moment that rivals the shot in my mind and my heart was the 12 seconds of defense we played against UNLV in 1991. Both are treasures, and we as Duke fans should be so proud of a program that has done this multiple times (UConn Laettner's sophomore year, Capel's half court miracle... Hurley's threes against Indiana in 1992 that sent us to play the Fab Five...)

Those of you who have been down on Duke ought to go into the archives and look all of these up... and realize that over the last two years when the outcomes haven't been quite what we wanted, we had (in total) 1 junior/senior starter (Markie), 1 sophomore/junior point guard (Greg), an unhappy big man (Josh), and a bunch of freshmen and sophomores. Give this team time to grow up, and I believe they will do it again.

Next play. Duke: National Champions 2009!

Great post.

[RockyMtDevil]

I was sitting in the lobby of my dorm with roughly 30 redneck kentucky fans when Woods threw the shot in out of his arse...Everyone had been giving me grief the entire game, they were even making fun of Christian's mom, remember, she had a brace on her neck.

I had just ordered a large pizza but was too sick to eat it. My buddy, the only solace in the crowd, leaned over and said "hey, they still have 2.1 seconds, anything can happen". I looked over at him and said something that I can't print here...

Hill passes the ball, I begin raising up on the coach, Laettner catches it and has the audacity to freakin dribble the ball, at which I am now shouting inside "shoot the @#$ ball". He turns, let's it fly, arm outstretched and BANG!

I turned around and as the lobby went deafly silent, proceeded to drop kick my big large supreme pizza all over a crew of Kentucky fans and then proceeded to drop bomb after bomb on each kentucky fan...

If I don't make it into heaven, I'll know why, but man that's the closest moment to pure ecstasy i've ever experienced in my life, even more than my Baptism.

Wow, I am smiling just thinking about it.

[Bostondevil]

I was at a party in Marblehead, all Dukies, all consoling ourselves for that last time-out. As soon as it left his hands, I shouted, "That's going in!" We made a pile in front of the TV just like the Devils did.

I'm one of those that gets nervous and paces and finds it hard to watch close games. I missed quite a bit of the second half going to the kitchen and getting beers for everybody else, but I told myself, you have to watch that overtime, every bit, no leaving, because if you miss it, you will always regret it, and win or lose, you stick it out.

[RelativeWays]

I'm a junior in high school, in my room a little glum and resigned. "Well, we won it last year....ZOMG!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

[DBFAN]

at home with my parents I was only 12 I was walking circles around my fathers chair before the play. when the shot went in it was the first time I was able to jump high enough to touch my parents ceiling. I can not believe that was 16 years ago, my how time flies when you are having fun.